Traditionally, the sit-up has been the conventional method for strengthening the abdominal muscles. The sit-up is typically executed by placing one's back to the floor with the knees bent and the feet flatly secured to the floor. The hands are placed behind the head with the elbows extending forward. The head and shoulders are then lifted using the abdominal muscles until the elbows touch the knees and then the head and shoulders are lowered back to the zero degree surface of the floor. While this form of exercise has achieved moderate success in strengthening the abdominal muscles, several drawbacks and deficiencies are known to exist. For example, many muscle groups are indiscriminately exercised in addition to exercising the target muscles resulting in slow development of the abdominal muscles, and the full range of motion of the sit-up causes stress on the lower back and may exacerbate previous lower back or other injuries. Further, placing the hands behind the head during the sit-up stresses the neck muscles and forces the head into an extreme position with the chin against the chest. At the least, the neck muscles are strained, but this condition can also lead to neck injury or aggravation of old neck injuries.
Limited range of motion exercises, such as the "abdominal crunch," have been developed for reducing the stress on the lower back. The crunch is performed in a similar manner to the sit-up except that the head and shoulders are only raised a limited distance off the ground. However, optimal isolation of the abdominal muscles is still not achieved because additional leverage is often gained by using the hip flexor muscles to execute the movement. Moreover, additional muscle groups are utilized to counterbalance the weight of the legs thus reducing the isolation of the movement to the targeted abdominal muscles, and the neck is still strained.
Further, doing a sit-up or crunch on a flat surface only allows a limited workout of the abdominal and spinal erectors. The hip flexor muscles benefit more from this exercise on a flat surface. The Roman chair concept of doing an abdominal sit-up, where the gluteus is on the edge of the seat and you lean back past a flat or zero degree angle, produces a fuller range exercise by pre-stretching the abdominals and contracting the spinal erectors before contracting into the crunch position. This does not happen when doing a sit-up or crunch on a supported zero degree or flat surface. However, such strain is still encountered because the hands are placed behind the head.
Accordingly, there is a need for an exercise apparatus and method which provides maximum isolation to the abdominal muscles while at the same time reduces stress to the back and neck.